Paranoia's best, revisited

Readers respond to the top 10 lists from last week's Paranoia series.

Feb 21, 2001 | Read "Who's watching who?" by Joyce Millman.

You missed one -- the 1960s precursor to "The X-Files," "The Invaders." Roy Thinnes is the only person alive who knows that aliens are secretly invading America, and no one will believe him. "Trust no one" indeed -- at least, no one with a crooked little finger!

-- Eric Elfman

What about "Mission Impossible"? This one always amazed me -- proceeding from the perspective of always being right and utilizing all kinds of extralegal activities to "trap" the bad guys. We were always exposed to the perspective that the "good guys" always won -- at all costs.

-- Betsy Fox

I can't quibble with most of your choices, but you did leave out one of the best -- "Nowhere Man." It's "Prisoner" meets "The Fugitive" with a pre-"13 Days" Bruce Greenwood as a photographer whose entire life history vanishes in an instant. He discovers he's being hunted by a vast conspiracy that erases people's histories at will. Certainly high on any paranoid list -- and we do know they're keeping track of what we watch.

-- Michael Mayo

Read "It's a plot" by Laura Miller and Maria Russo.

John Fowles' "The Magus" is inexplicably missing from your list. Careless oversight, or something much darker?

-- Michelle Vessel

I happen to think that Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" belongs on your list. Not only does it go into great detail about what can happen when you actually start believing your paranoid delusions, but it also illustrates our human need to feed into them. It's a great book!

-- Joanne

The exclusion of Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" must be a sign that the Knights Templar have even reached their foul hands to influence your writers.

-- Jonathan Troop

How could Miller and Russo have neglected to include Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum"!

-- Alicia Rice

Good article, but what about books that cause paranoia? The Bible is a big one that comes to my mind.

-- M. Brooke Robertshaw

Read "You don't say" by Carina Chocano.

It seems like you left out some really choice ones, such as:

"You're the shits as a boyfriend!"

"I'm GLAD I fucked Dave!"

"I just did him for a little while, so he'd know how good I was, but then when he tried to go down on me I pushed him away because, I don't know, that just seemed too intimate."

"He wanted to do it again, but by then I had most of my clothes back on, but he really insisted, so I said OK, but he'd have to go get another condom."

"What a crackup that you didn't even know, until just now when I told you!"

"I didn't like him that much, and he was really rough -- the condom broke while we were doing it, and that made me pretty mad."

"I think I'm gonna give him the heave-ho, because even though the sex is OK, I'm really not comfortable with him sleeping with those two other women in addition to me."

Naturally, it takes some time to accumulate these gems, but they really make the Valentine's Day season seem that much more special.

-- Andrew McClung

Why stop at 10? Here are a few personal favorites of mine:

"It's not you, it's me."

"I'm just not up to a relationship at the moment."

"I told you before we started this that I didn't want a commitment."

"No strings, remember?"

"Who's your friend?"

-- David McFadden

Next Page: A conspiracy to get more letters

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